New Delhi: The BJP, on Tuesday, launched a scathing attack on the Congress, accusing it of rewarding election commissioners who reportedly favoured the latter in the past.
This comes amidst ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Union minister Piyush Goyal, addressed a press conference during the day and accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of practising “double standards” over the protests and allegations of “vote chori”.
Accompanied by JD(U)’s Rajeev Ranjan Singh, Goyal defended the Narendra Modi government’s approach to appointing election commissioners, claiming that the current system ensures greater transparency in the selection process.
“In last couple of days we are seeing Rahul Gandhi’s double standards and childish behavior. All election commissioners under PM Modi have worked independently,” the Union commerce minister said.
“Now you look at the track record of Rahul Gandhi. During their time, they have given poll tickets to ECs. They pitted T N Seshan against L K Advani. They gave Padma Vibhushan to M S Gill. They rewarded all those ECs who favored them,” the BJP leader added.
Goyal also cited the appointment of former CEC R K Trivedi as Gujarat Governor in 1986, alleging that previous governments made appointments without consulting other stakeholders.
“R K Trivedi in 1986 was made Governor of Gujarat. Previously, the government used to make the appointments unilaterally. There was no consultation or dialogue with anyone involved. Whoever the government chose was appointed to the Election Commission, whoever they desired was made the Chief,” he remarked.
He also referred to the 2023 law governing the appointment of election commissioners, under which the Leader of the Opposition is part of the selection committee.
“It was PM Narendra Modi’s government that introduced a new law in 2023 under this legislation, the Leader of the Opposition was made a member of the selection committee, and now, the Leader of the Opposition sits alongside the Prime Minister to make the selection. Naveen Chawla was made CEC because he favored Congress when he was EC. I want to ask 10 questions to Rahul Gandhi,” Goyal added.